


Been through the Desert

by sevsgirl72



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-01-20
Updated: 2013-05-09
Packaged: 2017-10-29 20:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/323657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevsgirl72/pseuds/sevsgirl72
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary:  Christopher Pike is a Captain without a ship and stuck earth bound. He picks up a stranger in the middle of the desert. This is a lead up to McCoy and Pike getting on the transport in the 2009 movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. On the First Part of the Journey

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: None  
> Spoilers: TOS The Cage, Star Trek XI  
> Disclaimer: Paramount owns them, I'm only using them for my own kinky amusement.  
> AN: Unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.  
> AN2: Title and Chapter titles from America's song "A Horse with No Name

It had been four months since Captain Christopher Pike had been grounded. Four long, long, months. 

The Talosian incident had been a difficult mission to say the least and while he’d gotten away with crew and ship intact it had still ended with him stuck, earth side, pacing concrete and academy halls instead of ship corridors.

Chris snorted to himself as he stood looking out the window of his apartment toward San Francisco bay. The memory of the briefing was far from an enjoyable one. Admiral Barnett had commended his quick and cool use of action – but it was empty praise.  

The fact was that though everyone had returned alive and well, having a captain on a starship who’d recently been a prisoner of an unknown, highly advanced alien race with powerful,  all encompassing telepathic abilities made them nervous. Extended R and R leave is what they were calling it.

Crew and ship were intact, but they weren’t sure about their captain.

In a bar far from fleet headquarters after that first post-mission meeting Chris sat talking to the bar tender. 

“I did everything right. On the planet, after ward. I passed all the medicals...how am I here, stuck here,” Chris slammed his drink down. “What’ a captain without a ship and the stars?”  The bartender replied with a new bottle and a clean glass.

Four months later after many nights in that same bar, lost in the latter half of whatever cheap whiskey was waiting for him, Chris found himself standing in his apartment looking at the Gate Bridge with the newest Padd in his hand. An order to report to the Iowa Shipyard. 

The relief that flooded through him was quickly stamped down when he read further. It wasn’t a new assignment, not a real one anyways. He was to pilot a shuttle of new recruits, but it was better than the months of safety reports he’d gone comatose over.

The report date was still two weeks off. Two weeks that felt oddly longer than the four months behind him. Tired of seeing the inside of his quarters instead of the stars he did the only logical thing he could think of. 

Captain Christopher Pike hopped in his car and decided to hit the road and drive to the yard instead of wasting the next two weeks as he had the last four months. 

It’s a two day straight drive, but he’d do his best and spread it out into at least a week. It would be its own type of adventure, but even that excitement didn’t last once he hit the desert.

Deserts are a funny thing. They are the exact opposite of space in their brightness yet, eerily similar; its vastness seemed just as endless. He was born just on the edge of this same desert, but he left the minute he was old enough and it offered none of the nostalgia he’d expected. It was dead rocks and sand with mountains that taunted him in the distance. The glare even through the tinted windshield was relentless. A stark contrast to the dark abyss he missed so much.

Hours passed slowly as he drove. At some point, something appeared on the horizon that was neither part of the desert or the taunting mountains. It would disappear for some minutes only to appear again. When it was visible the speck was distorted by the heat rising from the ground. Chris thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. 

Blinking a few times and taking a swig of water, thinking it was just a combination of glare and dehydration, the waving dark speck was still there. Eventually, as he got closer, it stayed in sight. Then for the longest time, Christopher was sure it was a sign post or some rock formation, but the closer he got he became aware that it was moving. It took almost an hour for him to overtake it, and when he did the wavering speck solidified into the form of a man.

Chris slowed the car before nearing him completely. The wanderer was stripped of a shirt which he’d tied around his slim waist and in a sweat-stained tank top which was white at some point but now was covered in dust and sweat. As he pulled up beside him, Christopher could see a beard with at least a few days growth on it.

“You need a ride?”

“Need one, but don’t wan’one.”  The stranger replied in a southern accent and kept walking. This man was far from home.

Pike kept on driving slowly beside the haggard man concerned that it might not be the smartest move. The man was probably crazy. He’d have to be to wander this wasteland. He’d only been driving for six hours and even Christopher felt a little crazy. 

Continuing beside the stranger trying to figure out how to get him out of the blazing sun he noticed the shirt tied around him: there was a barely discernible red cross emblazoned on the back. He wasn’t going to leave the stranger out here in the middle of the desert now. Not a doctor.

“It’s a long walk to anywhere around here, doctor.”

“I ain’t a doctor, and I got weeks. Go away.” Still not even a glance or pause. Pike was never good at taking orders even when he was an ensign. He kept following until he watched the man stumble slightly, and that was his cue.

“Get in the car.”

The stranger finally stopped and dropped his bag to his feet. Chris stopped completely in response.

“What do ya’want?” The man yelled into the car.

“For you to get in the car, you’ll cook out here.”

“And what if I want to?”

Chris didn’t have a response to the truth that seemed to reside in those words, so he tried a different tactic.

“Then, I’ll just follow you. When you pass out, I’ll drag your ass into the car and out of the heat.”

With a grumble to himself the stranger picked up his rucksack and opened the door tossing it in before him.

Pike held out bottle of water the as the man slid into the car, and though he glare at it, and Chris in turn, he took it greedily, but was careful to drink it slowly. Definitely a doctor the captain thought to himself.

“Christopher Pike.”

“Leonard McCoy.”

“Heading anywhere particular Doctor McCoy?”

“I told you, I ain’t a doctor.”

“Leonard then?” The man replied with a gesture as if to say, ‘whatever suits you’. “Where’re you headed?”

A hip flask appeared from within the sack and the man took a swig. Pike thought he may have made a serious mistake in picking the man up, but there was obviously a story here, one that made this man seem like he needed any help he could get.

“Riverside shipyard.” He said with a hint of disdain.

“Problem with Starfleet?”

“Problem with space.”

“Then why…”

“Got no where else to go.” Leonard said flatly effectually stopping any more questions.


	2. The First Thing I Met

Hours were spent in silence and water bottles as Chris and his acquired passenger made their way across the landscape.

It was near nightfall when the pair had finally made it into the mountains, but like the desert there was just more of the same in front of them. Chris thought it best to pull over into a hotel and left the sleeping Leonard in the car as he went and got a room. As he sauntered out, repeating the room number a couple times out to himself to remember he was startled that the car was empty.

He easily picked up the man’s figure walking away toward the road and jogged to keep up.

“Leonard, we’re headed the same way. Might as well stay with me, share the room. It’s got two beds.”

“Why the hell are you doing this?!” Leonard turned around at him yelling. The desperate hatred in the question shocked Chris into halting his steps unsure about whether the man was going to attack him. “Just leave me be I don’t deserve nothin’.”

Whatever emotions were behind his words made Leonard’s accent thicker and it took Christopher a minute to understand him. Long enough that Leonard had continued walking again. Chris was too tired to walk after him again, yet really felt like he should be doing more.

“Room 419.” Chris yelled after him and retreated to the room. At least he gave the man an option. It was the best he could do.

***

The room was comfortable enough and Chris took a shower washing the dust of the desert trip off. It was refreshing, but he was left feeling both better and worse than he had since being stuck on the earth. He was just drying off when a buzz came from the door. With only a towel wrapped around his waist, not wanting to waste time putting clothes on for fear the doctor would run away again, Chris opened the door.

Leonard McCoy stood there, head bowed and looking lost, as if he was surprised at himself that he’d come back. When the door opened and he saw only Christopher’s bare feet his eyes continued up until he was looking at his bare legs. He’s eyes shot further up bypassing the towel as quickly as possible to meet the man’s eyes with some surprise and an even greater uncertainty. Chris apologized and moved aside to allow the other man in. 

“Take a shower. That bed is yours.” He pointed to the one closest to the door trying to be as nonchalant as a man can possibly be in only a towel.

“Thanks,” Leonard said in a rough voice before disappearing into the bathroom.

Christopher got changed and flicked on the room’s info screen settling on his bed with a padd of Starfleet orders along with the list of new recruits. He recognized a few names, children of those he’d served with, but there was a name on the list of candidates he’d never thought he’d see. James T. Kirk. The Kalvin felt like lightyears away and his time there like it had been another person entirely. What had happened to him? 

When the shower shut off, the sudden silence forced him out of his thoughts and turn them toward the other man just a door away. He’d never felt awkward around another man like that before, not that he made it a habit to wander around in public in just a towel, but in locker rooms it was never like that. Was it just the need he felt to help this desert wandering stranger, that Leonard was completely dressed and him completely vulnerable or something else?

If he was being completely honest with himself, the Talosian incident did leave a lasting mark. One that had no bearing on Starfleet so it was one he hadn’t mentioned, he hadn’t really explored it himself either. Since being in that cage and having his emotions and desires fooled with, Chris hadn’t been that interested in women or anyone. 

Even before he wasn’t much of a ladies man anyways, it was always work, the ship or a million other things that occupied his time, but he was never at a loss when he was looking for some companionship. Since Talos though, even when he was a good way through a bottle at the bar and a woman tried to pick him up he just wasn’t into it. There wasn’t anyone that caught his eye. 

Now, maybe it was just four gruelling months of monotony catching up with him, or there was something he’d been lying to himself about for a long time, but Leonard McCoy was raising feeling in him that he thought he’d lost. Maybe it was a good thing that he’d been earthbound because this was crazy. Wasn’t it? Sure Leonard had been surprised, and a little embarrassed at finding him almost naked but didn’t necessarily mean interest. ‘That doesn’t mean it’s not’, his traitorous brain kept telling him.

It was Christopher’s turn to blush when he was caught staring at the washroom door when Leonard walked out. The man was now clean-shaven, wearing a tight blue t-shirt and black track pants and completely different from the man picked up by the road side. 

Chris turned back to his Padd trying to pretend that he wasn’t staring while Leonard threw his bag into a corner and lay down to stretch out on his bed. He was tense for a long while, expecting to have questions thrown at him, but Chris stayed silent. Though he wasn’t looking forward to questions, Leonard was still curious and despite his gruff exterior he wasn’t that fond of silence. Until he’d been picked up Leonard hadn’t actually spoken to anyone in days. So he cleared his throat.

“Why’re you headed to the Shipyard?”

Christopher looked over to his companion not sure how much to tell him considering he’d not sounded that enthused about the mention of Starfleet earlier. “I’m ordered to be there.”

“So you’re enlisted, then?”

Chris shrugged in agreement though it wasn’t the whole truth. He had been enlisted a long time ago, but if he’d said he was a captain the level of authority that granted him may scare the man. Especially if he’d done something wrong; which Chris increasingly suspected. Yet, he wasn’t wary of the man. From the way he acted Leonard appeared to have integrity not to mention a blanket of guilt over him that made Chris sure that whatever it had been was something he did because he thought it was the right, best and only thing to do.

“Is that why you are going to Riverside? To enlist or work on the ships?”

“Join up, if they’ll take me.”

“But you don’t like space,” Chris repeated his sentiments from earlier.

“How can you!” The man said becoming animated at the idea. “One tiny crack in a hull and your blood boils in thirteen seconds and hell, no one is pretty when you’re stuck with a case of Andorian shingles and your eyeballs are bleeding.” As if exhausted by his outburst Leonard slumped back on his bed taking a sip from the flask that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Chris opened his mouth to say something and refute everything the man just said, but he had to pause. He’d seen all that happen and more. After all the man had only mentioned mere physical dangers, look at the mental mess he had been in. He still couldn’t wait to be back up there.

“It’s the bigger picture,” Christopher started. “It’s dangerous I’ll give you that. But almost everyone of those planets have beings that live there and all of them have something to teach us. There is still so much to learn that it is worth the danger. If we can find things to help people here or help those out there,” Chris pointed upward. “Then to be apart of a vehicle to help facilitate it, is worth all of it.”

“It’s about the rush too.” He added after a moment of silence. Leonard looked at him skeptically, but the grin that was on Chris’s face made a bit of his dourness drop away and he let himself laugh for the first time in a long while. The sound just made Chris smile even wider.

When he’d finished, Leonard offered him the flask as if to say ‘you’re alright’ and he accepted it. Tipping it back he wasn’t at all surprised at the strong Tennessee whiskey that burned down his throat. When he handed it back it felt as if he’d passed some kind of test because Leonard completely relaxed and all the awkwardness of being two strangers alone in a hotel room melted away.

“How long have you been walking?”

“Two days. Started in Vegas.”

“Were you really planning on walking all the way?”

“No.” Leonard paused and took a deep breath. “But the desert seemed like the perfect penance.”

Christopher wasn’t going to ask the obvious question of what he needed penance for since it would no doubt make the man shut down again. A yawn overtook him and shut down the conversation anyways and both men turned in to get some sleep. It was a long time in coming for Chris though, as he couldn’t stop wondering about this not-a-doctor stranger in search of penance.


	3. The Heat Was Hot

Chris slept well into the morning, and was not surprised after looking at the time that Leonard was no longer there. He was shocked at seeing that the man’s belongings were still in the corner. The sight of the bag gave him a little encouragement that told him maybe he wasn’t all that crazy. That maybe there was a reason he felt like he needed to help the man. Maybe there was a friendship here. Maybe even the possibility for something else.

Chris stopped himself. It was stupid and annoying that after months of wanting to stay away from the possibility of attachment, where the return to space was his only goal, he was suddenly ready to latch onto a complete stranger. 

But there was something about Leonard that made you want to tell him all your problems. Chris smirked to himself. Whether the man wanted to admit it, he definitely was a doctor. And that was something he was determined to ask him about during their drive today – if the man decided to stay.

Dressed and packed the captain left the room in search of Leonard. Once outside it wasn’t hard to spot the dark figure at the far edge of the hotel’s property. The man was sitting on a bench that faced the desert and out over part of the road they had travelled the day before. Chris slowly made his way toward Leonard and sat down. The view should have been boring as it had throughout the hours of driving yesterday, but now in the early morning it seemed a little more alive. Maybe the desert wasn’t all that bad.

“It rained,” Leonard said. “Looks mighty different now.”

Chris admired the landscape. It was enough to give him a little hope for something. Maybe it was just a sign that he’d be getting a ship back or that Leonard would continue with him on the road. “That why you decided to stay last night?”

Leonard nodded continuing to gaze out into the landscape.

“I’m not going to drive straight to Riverside today. You’re still welcome to tag along if you want.”

Now, Leonard did look at him with a glimpse of anguish in his eyes that disappeared quickly. “Why’d you pick me up yesterday?”

“I guess I needed the company.” He shrugged. “And you looked like you need help.”

“There ain’t much help for these ol’bones.” Leonard gave him a lopsided grin as he took out his flask. “Not on this damn planet.”

Both men turned back to the view and got lost in thought until Chris’s stomach grumbled. “I think it’s best we get some food before hitting the road. That’s if you’re coming with me.” He stood up and Leonard looked up at him with a grin.

“Well, I ain’t never been one for deserts anyhow. That road’s flatter than a gander's arch and days I’ve got.”    

Chris laughed at the man’s strange expression and they walked toward the hotel diner to sit down for a meal. Not much was said as neither had much in the way of food for a while. It was just before noon as they got back in the car and headed on their way.

“Why are you ordered to Riverside anyways?” Leonard asked soon after they hit the road. “You a recruiter or something?”

“Or something.”

Leonard arched an eyebrow at him and Chris just caught it as he glanced at his passenger. If he wasn’t going to talk about it with a Fleet doctor, he might as well with someone.

“I am a captain, was a captain...still am, but I’m not assigned to a ship.” Chris stumbled around the answer.

“That sounds somethin’ confusing. No wonder you looked sour yesterday. Sorry if I hit a nerve.”

“What do you mean?”

“All that talk about the dangers of space.”

“What? You think I destroyed a ship?”

Leonard shrugged “Can’t think of another reason why a captain would lose his commission.”

“I didn’t wreck a ship, or violate the prime directive or anything else morally suspect.” He grumbled.

“Alright then.” Leonard backed off leaving Chris miffed at the idea and annoyed enough to be direct and forget the tacked he’d been going for that morning.

“You were a doctor right?” He could feel the burn of Leonard’s glare. “You started the questions.”

Leonard sighed. “I was a doctor. Until a couple of months ago. Probably’ll be one again. I’d imagine that’s one of those skills Starfleet won’t let me forget.”

“But you want to?”

Leonard wasn’t given the chance to answer. In one moment they’d been going at an easy pace down the straight road and the next there was a loud bang and the car swerved left skidding onto sand, then quickly to the right as Chris tried to correct his steering. In a few harrowing seconds it was all over in a cloud of dust. They were safe at the side of the road when the dust settled. Leonard turned quickly to Chris giving him a quick visual check over.

“Aright?”  Christopher asked.

“In one piece,” McCoy grumbled.

“Tire’s probably not.” Chris took off the seat belt and opened the door sending another cloud of dust up.

Both men got out of the car to take a look at the passenger side tire and true to his prediction the tire was mangled.

“Must have been the heat.” Chris said kicking away a loose piece of rubber. “There is a spare one in the back. Can you grab it?”

“As long as you ain’t expecting me to change it ‘cause I’m a useless as tits on a bull.” Leonard went around to the trunk leaving Chris smiling as he tried to clear the debris away so he could start taking the nuts off. Never had a flat tire been a funny occasion, but apparently a lot of things were different with the ornery man around. Chris wondered what he was like in an actual emergency.

“Why’re you drivin’ this ancient thing anyways?” Leonard said rolling the tire and carrying the jack and tire iron.

"Before I had a ship all I had was this car. I knew I'd probably never get a chance to drive it again, but never had the heart to get rid of it."

Chris fixed the jack under the frame and lifted the corner of the car up with Leonard looking on. Then asked for the iron the doctor passed it to him and stood with arms crossed watching the man work deftly and with care. He was actually fascinated by the way he worked lining up every bolt he took off; much like a surgeon would his instruments.

As Chris was taking the tire off he lost his grip on it and his hand slipped behind it sliding into the calliper. When he pulled his hand away he didn’t need to look to know there was a large gash across the palm of his hand by the burning pain the surged up his arm. Before he even had time to exclaim, Leonard had grabbed his wrist and positioned his hand upward.

“Hold it there.” He said before grabbing his bag from the car and shuffling through it to find a case. Chris could just barely read a label on it, ‘Property of Atlanta Medical Academy’ before he dropped it on the hood. Unlocking it Leonard grabbed the portable skin regenerator and took Chris’s hand again resting it in his own palm and gripping the wrist tightly. Leonard bent over it working steadily for a couple of minutes and the familiar tickle of skin being knitted back together worked at removing the pain. The captain couldn’t help but admire the skill and the strength of the hand holding his own. And when the doctor looked up from finishing his job their eyes met and Chris knew that what he’d been feeling ever since the man had step foot in his car was wholly mutual.

Leonard let his hand down gently, but didn’t move away. Instead he took a step forward to stand even closer. Chris hadn’t noticed before that the man was taller than him but he had to look up at him slightly and Chris feel for a moment that that was supposed to mean something. But all thoughts of height, broken cars and deserts disappeared when the man moved impossibly closed and Chris found himself backed up against the car when their lips met.


	4. The Air Was Full of Sound

Chris was enclosed by Leonard’s arms braced against the car and the lips against his own were dry, but insistent and inviting. Chris responded in turn darting his tongue out to taste them. Whiskey spiked and exactly what he wanted. Leonard ended the kiss and rested his forehead against Chris’s. Panting he made no move to go any further. Chris grabbed his waist and held on to catch his breath.

The novelty of this whole incident, an almost crash, the barren desert and this mystery man, was intoxicating. The surprise of it all was so strange; Chris said the first thing he could think of.

“You stole a med kit?”

Leonard straightened up to look at him. “And other things – like kisses.”

Smiling, Chris pulled Leonard until they were flush from chest to knee and kissed him slow and exploratory, tongues languidly dancing together. The desert heat had nothing on them.  

The ease of it all changed suddenly when Leonard fervently began to open Chris’s belt. And Chris felt not only that there was something so right about this, but that there was also something very wrong. Leonard was too close, and everywhere like a drowning man that thirsted for contact. Chris felt trapped. Breaking the kiss and trying to keep himself calm he stopped the doctor with a hand.

“Let’s get back on the road,” Chris kept his voice steady. “We can finish this somewhere more comfortable. Can’t drive far on that tire.”

Leonard blinked at him, as if just barely seeing him, and stopped. Chris gave him a quick kiss to the side of his mouth to reassure him that he meant it – and he did mean it. McCoy went into full doctor mode for a moment, and checked Chris’s hand once more before nodding and turning away.

Hand mended and now dishevelled, Chris got back to the tire, while McCoy drifted out into the desert with his back to the road, the car, and Chris. The rest of the repair was perfunctory and Chris quickly fitted on the new tire without further mishap. While tightening the nuts Chris let his mind wander. Whatever ghosts were on Leonard’s back were obviously something that had removed him from people. Not unlike himself. But what could have happened to a doctor from Georgia on earth? The planet held none of the dangers that he’d experience, out there.

“Leonard,” Chris called wiping his hands on a rag. “You ready?”

He shielded his eyes with a hand and saw the doctor take a deep breath before walking back. He didn’t look at Chris while he put his medkit back together.

“When we stop, I’ll have to find another tire.” Leonard still didn’t acknowledge him.

“Are you ok?” Chris asked, laying a hand on his arm. Leonard look first at the hand and then at Chris a haunted sadness in his eyes. McCoy nodded but Chris wasn’t completely sure he meant it. When they got in the car though, Leonard sat a little closer.

It was only a couple more hours before they pulled into the next motel.

***

Chris checked in and Leonard grabbed their bags systematically as if they’d been doing this for weeks instead of for the first time. Settling in was not nearly as unsure as the previous night, but it wasn’t the ‘I want to jump your bones’ fervour that only hours before they’d both thought it would be. To each other, they seemed like they had a lot on their mind.

“I’m going to call around, see if I can find a tire,” Chris started searching the computer when they were inside, for anywhere that might have one. The car definitely needed a new tire. There was no way the spare could hold up for the rest of the journey – not with the desert heat.

“Not gonna be easy is it?” Leonard said, and Chris had the feeling he meant something else by it, but nodded.

When he had a few places, Chris began to call them up. While he talked with the first and second people on the list, he watched Leonard shuffle through his bag, then all the pockets, and his bag again. He had no luck, and it seemed neither did Leonard. So as he called the last number Leonard grabbing the key in a huff and pointed to the door. Chris nodded while at him.

Third try was a charm. Someone, just off the road about a twenty minute drive from them had some tires laying around that might work. Chris arranged to stop in on the way out tomorrow. Leonard still wasn’t back when all was arranged; so much like the night before Christ stretched out on his bed and began reading the daily reports that had been sent to him.

The last message he read was from Admiral Barnett:

_ Captain Pike, _

_ Upon arrival at Riverside, you are ordered to medical for a full examination before reporting on the 9th. Until that point you are still listed as not fit for duty. _

_ Admiral R. Barnett _

Underneath the official message, was a more personal one:

_ Chris, are you still driving that old hunk of metal? Don’t go getting lost in that desert. Remember that cadet bar at Riverside? Last time I checked, there was still the weekly poker game in the back. Let me know how the credits are shuffling. _

_ -Richard _

Christopher snorted at Barnett, the man just wanted him to report on who was playing, not to actually have some fun. He remembered the man during their cadet days – never could keep him away from a game.

The thought of a medical examination however, eclipsed the amusement at Barnett. ‘Not fit for duty’ was the same crap they’d been throwing around for four months now. The problem was he was fit for duty, just not for these curve balls life kept throwing at him.

After today, he was sure something wasn’t right and it had everything and nothing to do with Leonard. Chris could remember Talos, that cage. Rock at first then that woman. Then it wasn’t on planet it was here on earth…then somewhere else. He remembered just wanting to escape but also wanting to stay, wanting her. That wasn’t him though, the need to escape was, but not her and not there. Christ began to trying picking his way through how this sexual attraction fit into the things the Talosian’s had tried to pin on him. 

He had to keep reminding himself that there was a reproductive angle to their imprisonment. If they had been going off just his fantasies, there may have been an illusory man just as there had been a woman to keep him happy. He was home though, wasn’t he? Chris began to question everything. His stomach lurched when he thought about still being there in that cage, Leonard being just another one…another illusion. His thoughts whirled and nothing was his own again.

The next thing he knew, his head was reeling and an unstoppable shuddering racking his body, and Chris raced to the washroom, flinging himself to the ground at the toilet retching. Chris wasn’t sure how long he’d been there, but he felt the presence of Leonard behind him followed by the beep of a tricorder as well as a cool hand at his forehead. Then there was a hypospray in his neck.

It took a few minutes before he felt well enough to move. A few minutes that Leonard stayed right beside him. Chris got to his feet unsteadily, and Leonard guided him to his bed.

“Thanks,” Chris grumbled. And Leonard grabbed the bottle he’d picked up from the store before perching on his own bed to keep an eye on him.

“Wasn’t anything to do with today, was it?” Leonard asked before taking a swig from the bottle.

“No…” Christopher started, but a guilty look crept across his face. “Yes, and no…mostly no”

“But it is about losing your ship, right?”

Leonard handed him the bottle but Chris declined getting up to clean the sour taste, and curses he wanted to say out of his mouth. As he brushed his teeth, Chris remembered the moment he’d returned to the Ship afterward and how there weren’t enough showers for days. The shuddering started again, but not as badly. When he returned to the bed he lay down and stared at the ceiling.

Christopher waited, but the questions he was expecting never came. When he chanced to look at Leonard, the man was looking very seriously toward him, but not really at him.

“If I get her back. I’ll be fine.”  Chris finally said.

Leonard’s eyes snapped directly to his, calling his bullshit without a word. In explanation Christopher grabbed the Padd and passed it to him. Leonard took it, and read through with a glance.

“Full medical.” Leonard hmmed, “that doctor’s gonna have to be dumber than a bucket of rocks to pass you. Because from where I sit, I know something’s not right.”

Chris glared at him, but the doctor continued. “You’ll get your ship back, sure. You’ll probably be fine as a captain – it’s as a functioning person that’ll eventually be the problem.”

“You didn’t complain this afternoon,” The captain shot back.

“I didn’t, and don’t and can’t – I’d wanted to do that since I saw you in that towe.”

“Great McCoy. Now, tell me what you really think.”

Leonard arched an eyebrow at him got up just to crawled onto Chris’s bed and straddle him. Chris instinctively puts his hands on the man’s thighs, but he tensed.

“You’ve got what, a week?” Chris nodded dumbly in answer. “I can work with that.” Leonard said, and kissed him like he had earlier in the day before moving to lay beside him. Neither were ready for anything else.

Outside it began to rain again for the second time in just as many days.


End file.
